Tommy Robinson; the problem that’s not going away.

Whenever I read the latest instalment of the Tommy Robinson saga, the wise old saying, when you are in a hole stop digging comes to mind, but the elitist arrogance of this government seems totally oblivious to this advice and continue to expose the British justice system to what has now become nothing short of a pantomime farce. If it was their objective to display Robinson or to use his real name Stephen-Christopher Yaxley-Lennon as the pantomime villain, then that had sadly backfired and the longer this story makes headlines, the likelihood of creating exactly the opposite is inevitable and Tommy Robinson in the guise of a national hero is a distinct possibility with a large amount people who already feel ignored by their politicians. The more the British media try to justify their reporting of this case, that should never have been in a showcase court like the Old Bailey normally used in cases of seriou crimes such as murder or terrorism and their own unbalanced opinion of him,the less a large and growing audience of people trust what they have to say. The joke making the rounds during the Brexit referendum was “Is that true or did you hear it on the BBC” and this again seems to resonate across the country regarding the British media’s handling of Robinson.

Tommy Robinson may well be all or none of the things he is accused of being; but that’s not the point in this situation, if anyone commits a crime then one would expect that there are laws in place to deal with that crime and that anyone committing that crime should be treated in exactly the same way, the law cannot be bespoke to suit a particular individual as seems to be the case here, where a charge of contempt of court is heard in the most senior court in the land.

Tommy Robinson is most certainly a thorn in the side the government who would not be unhappy if he was behind bars. Yet the manner of his arrest conviction and sentence, all within five hours and the fact he spent five months in solitary confinement, apparently against prison regulations, is more akin to some of the less saviour political and legal systems we find around the world and have in the past been critical of when it suits us. In fact the entire case surrounding his arrest and conviction is pitted with irregularities.

Regardless of the outcome, the British justice system is as much on trial as Tommy Robinson and whatever the result it can only add to the atmosphere of mistrust that an ever-growing number of people are feeling towards their government, this is turn will do nothing but further divide a country that has not seen such division of opinion since the English civil war and this in turn will inevitable give Tommy Robinson the platform to reach a far greater audience not just in the country but around the world.